Kevin's Watch

I couldn't find my copy of Herbert's; Dune, so I picked up Burroughs'; John Carter of Mars...pretty good so far!

balon! wrote:I couldn't find my copy of Herbert's; Dune, so I picked up Burroughs'; John Carter of Mars...pretty good so far!

... just in time to have read it before the [apparently disappointing] movie comes out. (After waiting for it just about exactly 100 years, mind you.)

You couldn't find Dune?????


A John Carter movie is coming out?????

Why do you find it disappointing? I'm surprised it's coming out at all after all the on again off again crap...

I totally wish a particular actor was hired to play the title character, so I could change the brief synopsis to read:
"A man is inexplicably transported from a teaching hospital in Chicago to the exotic planet Mars, and becomes embroiled in the epic conflict between realistic and fantastic fiction."

danlo wrote:Why do you find it disappointing?

I watched that trailer that I linked to above.

(Sent from my Kindle.)

wayfriend wrote:

danlo wrote:Why do you find it disappointing?

I watched that trailer that I linked to above.

(Sent from my Kindle.)

That trailer is all over the place. It showed before Capt. America, and at first I thought it was a period piece, then a western, then WTF, and finally reached the conclusion, 'oh, this must be John Carter of Mars."

Well I did watch it with the sound off, so it seemed fairly cool, and I didn't think the actor was Dr. Carter from ER...didn't think he was buff enough, but then again the Burroughs character wasn't that buff either..guess I'll have to watch again...

Looks good enough to me. Classic books, but not masterpieces that can't be done on film.

Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey. I'm a bit disappointed so far. It lacks the richness and depth of her earlier work.

slogging through the end of Iron Council now...sigh...it started out pretty good but here near the end it's petering out. i think this is it for me and mr. mieville for a while. i just got Ali's Swan Song and a Bruce Sterling detective story on my kindle today so that's where i'm going next.

Yay!

The Blood Angels Omnibus, by James Swallow. One of the Warhammer 40,000 books. I expect it's a lot of crazy futuristic war. But Argothoth was so enthusiastic that I had to try it. Borders is 60% off, so not much of a risk. First 15 pages are fun enough, and there are definite possibilities for good stuff.

Fist and Faith wrote:The Blood Angels Omnibus, by James Swallow. One of the Warhammer 40,000 books. I expect it's a lot of crazy futuristic war. But Argothoth was so enthusiastic that I had to try it. Borders is 60% off, so not much of a risk. First 15 pages are fun enough, and there are definite possibilities for good stuff.

Wait...Warhammer 40k has fiction/novels attached to it? Somehow, I think my reality just had a minor tectonic shift.

There are TONS of books. I've seen them forever in the bookstores, at the end of sci-fi/fantasy, where the Trek, SW, Forgotten Realms, etc, are. I just never knew anything about them, and never had reason to look into it.

What do you know of the whole thing? Do you play?

Fist and Faith wrote:There are TONS of books. I've seen them forever in the bookstores, at the end of sci-fi/fantasy, where the Trek, SW, Forgotten Realms, etc, are. I just never knew anything about them, and never had reason to look into it.

What do you know of the whole thing? Do you play?

Not anymore, but years ago I played a few times. [Heh...conned into it by the same peeps who got me to play a game called "Blood Bowl" which was basically football with trolls and dwarves and weapons and such] One time was as epic as I think one of these can be. If you don't know how it works, this might not reveal the epicness, but maybe it'll be a hint: The basic movement of your "characters," on a turn is in the 4-12 linear inches range. The field of battle for this particular event was the entire first floor of a house [@1200 square feet]
It's basically medieval-space-tech fantasy. There are elves [though they're called "Eldar" or somesuch IIRC....they're still elves], and other traditional fantasy peeps/classes, Archaic weapons and magic, but also nukes, orbital assault, space marines, and genetic engineering [the bad guys are the gene-dudes, for the most part, cuz, ya know, you can never control genetic mods/mutations, they always go all evil and try to wipe you out].
BUT: this info is all pretty old and from memory. I know it's gone through multiple [maybe massively multiple] editions/expansions...and there are video game versions/modifications, I think...since I played it [more than ten years ago]

I broke down and am reading the first 100 pages of Ashes, by Ilsa J. Bick. It's not officially out until Tuesday, and I was going to wait - it's at the top of the list of books I've been looking forward to this year. It's a YA dystopian horror novel about the end of the world as we know it and zombies and such, and from the pieces I've read so far, it reminds me a bit of The Stand, but I'll wait to do a full review when I've actually finished it.

Four days, and I still need to zombie-proof my door.

Last year I picked up my first R.A. Salvatore book and devoured in a very short time. Actually, it was a single book that encompassed the Dark Elf Trilogy, which are Homeland, Exile and Sojourn. The dark elf is Drizzt Do'Urden in case you, like me only recognize his name from gaming.

Considering that I began playing D&D back in the 1980s, I am now surprised that I never picked up and of the Forgotten Realms fiction out there.

I have now read books 4 & 5 and am just starting book 6, The Halfling's Gem on my Kindle.

Salvatore is a great adventure writer, and quite fun to read. I would not put him on a par with the likes of Tolkien and Donaldson, but he is definitely becoming a favorite.

I highly recommend his work.

Rereading Neverwhere.

--A

Avatar wrote:Rereading Neverwhere.

--A

really? you liked that? i read about 50 pages and gave up.
didn't hook me at all.

sorus, i've started reading Ashes at your link. looks good.

finished ali's Swan Song which i liked very much ali!!
(was a bit weepy at the end *sniffle*)
the bruce sterling turned out to be annoying and not a detective story
as i'd thought from the download description. ah well.